1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles and, in particular, to a head restraint for vehicle seats having an integrated video screen mounted therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Seat back video monitors are becoming increasingly popular in vehicles. Originally, these entertainment systems were largely confined to airplanes, however, recently, these systems have become much more popular with cars, trucks and SUVs. These entertainment systems provide the opportunity for passengers to view entertainment or educational video programs during long trips.
Typically, these systems have been installed as aftermarket products where the seat back or head restraint, whether part of an adjustable head restraint unit or a molded bucket seat, is modified to accept the video display device, however, more of these systems are being installed as original equipment. Unfortunately, existing systems are often difficult and labor intensive to mount, particularly as an aftermarket product and are also subject to being dislodged.
Generally, the devices are mounted on the outer surface of the seat back where they protrude. In many vehicles, the space between seats is limited, hence the protruding video display unit can inhibit the ability of passengers to easily get into and out of the vehicles. Moreover, passenger contact with the protruding video display screen may result in the screens being inadvertently dislodged, or result in occupant injury in a collision.
A further difficulty with many existing video display unit designs is that they are not well secured to the seat. This is particularly the case for designs that allow the video display unit to pivot about an axis to improve the viewing angle of the passenger. One common way that these display units are installed is that a bucket is installed into the seat and the peripheral rim of the bucket includes openings that receive pivot posts that extend outward from the housing of the display unit. The pivot posts are positioned within the openings and keepers or caps are then positioned in the openings to prevent the pivot posts from being removed from the openings.
In these designs, the keepers or caps are generally press fit and are exposed to the passenger. Hence, inadvertent contact may result in the keepers or caps being dislodged. Moreover, many of the passengers are children who, through boredom, may attempt to remove the keepers which can result in the video display being dislodged and potentially damaged.
Thus, one can see that improvements can be made on ways a video display screens or associated devices are mounted to various types of seats. Some of the areas where improvments can be made include safety issues associated with an occupant impacting the video display assembly, cosmetic integration of the video display assembly, and efficiency of packaging the video display assembly.
Hence, from the foregoing, there is a need for a seat back video display system and method of mounting that provides more secure mounting of the video display unit. To this end, there is a need for an assembly that is less likely to be dislodged through inadvertent contact and does not have exposed detachable mounting components.